The party sets out not long after-most of the Kobolds seems to think well of them, and wish them good luck. Teak gives you a final farewell, though if things go right you may-if you choose to return along this path-meet him again soon.
"=Teak will make sure the other mines know who you are and what you have done.=" He yarks, his small tail whipping back and forth. "=We will always see you as friends...be careful of our lizard-brothers who live deep in the caves, though. Many of them are not so friendly to strangers.=" he says fearfully.
...
The trip through the underworld is frightening-there's no more atavistic fear than simple darkness. What lurks just beyond your torch light? Was that sound a drip of water...or a stealthy foot step? When something brushes by you in the dark, are you sure it was one of your friends? It goes on and on, never relenting...sometimes the tunnels are painfully thin-so much you have to remove your armor for a few tense moments to squeeze through (Sarco seems to have the most trouble there), though he has an advantage in the flooded passages where you all have to hold your breath and swim into murky tunnels, going from air pocket to pocket until the passage dries out again. Other times the passages are so wide you can't even see the roof, and Coney hurries you past these-warning of Darkmantles, which she describes as monsters that disguise themselves as pointed stones in the ceiling before swooping down on the unwary to feed.
Eventually, you begin to lose all sense of true direction-even up and down become unsure. It's very disconcerting to all of you who live on the surface.
Coney leads you on fearlessly, however-through a seemingly endless tangle of tunnels you all feel you would have little chance of navigating yourselves. Many times she seems not to be taking a straight path at all, like you would image, but moving in many random directions (even backwards). Yet, she insists she knows the way. She rarely speaks out loud, but freely converses mentally with any of the party who wish to do so.
Eventually, many of the paths seem to be leading steadily upward-the solid stones of the hills begin to give way to porous, sticky rock. Coney says you've come to the Sunkenstew...she points to the ceiling, where you can all see ribbed tiles of Progenitor crystal, some cracked and fallen, but most of it still seems intact.
...
3 hours later
Coney has called a short halt in what seems a safe enough room-it's hexagonal, bare of all adornments but a marble statue dominating the East wall. There are two doors, one leading South (Coney insists) where you came from, and one leading North (probably) to where you're going.
The statue is the only thing interesting here-flush against the east wall, about five feet high and six feet wide, it displays a sort of creature that has the lower half of a serpent, and the upper half of a comely and unclad Elven woman, though her hands end in thick, sharp claws. In one reptilian hand, she holds a stone book, and in the other a four pronged spear set against the floor. Her body is set into a stone pedestal, upon a stony bed and pillows, and she has a speculative smile on her face. The statue seems to have been done by a unskilled, yet passionate artist-or perhaps a team of them, as it's beautiful in an off-kilter sort of way.
Of further interest is that the statue and the room itself seems relatively clean, compared to the places you've been through.
*"...Ay, clean is bad. Who's doing the cleaning? Something with a brain...like things that wanna eat me to be stupid..."* Coney mutters, checking her crossbow sights.
Author
Topic: D&D 5e: Lost Isle/[1st Cycle-Missing the Birdgirl. Not that one, the other one] (Read 59482 times)